Dec 5, 2018 - CNET chooses the best printers for homes, dorms, and offices. Our editors hand-picked these products based on our tests and reviews.
Since most AIO printers are wireless nowadays, we’ve focused on those that work wirelessly and allow you to print instantly from not only your Mac but also mobile devices such as iPad, iPhone, Windows Mobile and Android devices. Useful To Know: Printers & Macs Before jumping in, to help you decide which AIO printer is right for you, there are a few things worth being aware of when choosing a printer for your Mac. Laser vs Inkjet Although all of the devices featured here can print, copy, scan and fax from Mac, the main thing you’ll probably use it for is printing. You’ll therefore want to choose a printer based mainly on your printing needs because the copy, scan and fax capabilities are similar across the board. There are two types of printer on the market – inkjet and laser printers.
Laser printers are usually more expensive but they are faster and give better print quality, especially for text. Inkjets are almost the same speed nowadays but give better print quality for images. The best printer for you therefore depends in what you want to use it for. In a nutshell, if you’re mainly going to print lots of text or PDF documents, you’re best going for a laser printer. If you’re going to be doing a serious amount of printing, you’re better investing in a Laser printer such as the HP LaserJet Pro or HP OfficeJet Pro as they print as significantly faster printing speeds. If it’s photos you’ll be mainly printing, then you’re probably better to go for an inkjet machine.
A cautionary note: the metadata removal in Word for the Mac does not appear to be as thorough as Prepare > Inspect Document in the Windows version. Users would be best served by converting their documents to Acrobat and using Acrobat’s Examine or Sanitize Document features. It is a good idea to use the Document Inspector before you share an electronic copy of your Word document, such as in an e-mail attachment. Important: We highly recommend that you use the Document Inspector on a copy of your original document, because it is not always possible to restore the data that the Document Inspector removes. It's still there, but has been relocated: Go to Tools> Protect Document or click the Protect Document button on the Review tab. You'll see it at the bottom of the dialog window. You'll see it at the bottom of the dialog window. The Document Inspector window appears as follows. Note that the options will vary slightly, depending on whether you are using Word, Excel, or PowerPoint. If you are using Microsoft Word, select at a minimum, the following options. 
The Document Inspector dialog box appears, shown on the left. It lists items you might have overlooked or forgotten about. You can add or remove check marks to direct the inspector to find or ignore specific items. Click the Inspect button. Word scours the document, checking for those items you selected in the Document Inspector dialog box.
We’ve indicated in these reviews and in the comparison table whether the printer reviewed is laser or inkjet. Cartridge Costs Although printers have never been cheaper than today, the real expense with printers is the cost of replacing the printer cartridges.
Color print cartridges, especially for laser printers, can be hundreds of dollars so you should bear in mind how much replacement cartridges cost when making your decision. We’ve made it clear in the reviews and comparison table how many cartridges the printer requires and how much cartridges cost so that there are no nasty shocks after purchasing your printer. Faxing From Printers All of the machines featured here can also be used as a fax machine. However, its important to note you will need a landline in your home or office to use this feature. To fax from an all-in-one machine, you need to connect it via a telephone cable to your landline connection – you can’t fax from a printer via your WiFi connection.
If this is a problem, or you’re intending to fax regularly from your Mac, we strongly recommend reading our guide on the where you’ll find information on how to fax using online services or via fax apps from macOS. Other things worth being aware of when buying any kind of printer are: • Print Resolution (dpi): You’ll find that not many manufacturers make the print resolution (measured in dots per inch – dpi) very clear or even state print resolution on product descriptions. Most print at around 2400 x 4800 dpi but you should check with the manufacturer if this is a crucial issue for you. • Scan Resolution (dpi): This is usually made clear in most manufacturer product descriptions and most printers scan in 1220 x 2400 dpi but we’ve made the scanning resolution clear in the reviews. • Double Sided Printing (Duplex Printing): All the wireless printers here can print, scan and copy double-sided, also known as duplex printing. This is very useful as it saves significant amounts of paper if printing on both sides is not an issue for you.